A Birder's Life for Me

Some said that it could not be done.
Some said they even knew it.
We tried.  We tried.  We gave our all.
Turns out, we could not do it.

That was the theme last Wednesday evening as we watched in vain for the Yellow-crested Caracara at Oleta River near Miami.  This South American stray has been hanging around this park for about a year.  This was our fourth attempt to see it and once again, we whiffed.

So, the next morning it was off to Pine Woods Park at daybreak in search of Scaly-breasted Munias and Spot-breasted Orioles.  The munias were not to be found but, just as I was turning around to head back to the car, two orioles flew in to give me life bird #543.

They seemed to be in nest-building mode as one was carrying either a piece of string, wire or the longest pine needle I've ever seen.

I also picked up a Painted Bunting to ease the pain of not seeing the munias.

Upon arriving in Key West on Thursday, we unloaded the car beneath the thunderous maneuvers of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels.  Apparently, our street provides them with their flight path as they were doing fly-overs at about 100 feet above the house.   Crank up the volume and watch the video to get a small sense of what these sounded like.  Six going over the house at the same time was quite the spectacle.

The Angels were in town for the air show this past weekend.  Thankfully, they only do this every other year.  The daily jet traffic from the nearby naval station is more than enough, let alone having these guys go zooming by as many as six at a time.

Today, Henry and I went back to the Key West Botanical Garden in search of one more new species for the year to get us to 10 for the month of March.  We got two.  A Black-throated Green Warbler (top) and a Prairie Warbler (bottom).